Annotation:Long John's Wedding
X:1 T:Long John's Wedding M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig or March S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 233 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A e|c2A ABA|agf e2d|c2A ABc|d2c Bcd| c2A ABA|agf e2d|c2A BGB|A3 A2:| |:e|A2B c2d|efe e3|d2B Bcd|e2d cBA|e2d cBA| f2g agf|e2d c2a|c2A BGB|A3 A2:|]
LONG JOHN'S WEDDING ("Posga Sean Fada" or "Posad Seagan Fada"). AKA and see "Mary Bain's Wedding," "Pòsadh peathar in bhàin." Irish, Scottish; Air, Double Jig or March (6/8 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune "Long John's Wedding" has both Irish and Scottish roots, and was first printed in Rev. Patrick MacDonald's Collection of Highland Vocal Music (1784) under the title "Pòsadh peathar in bhàin." O'Neill (1922) calls the march version in his Waifs and Strays (1922) an 'elaboration' of the jig he prints in Music of Ireland (1903). The melody The second of O'Neill's strains differ somewhat. See "My House" or "My Own House" for a setting of the tune in waltz time (or as a 3/4 time air). Fr. John Quinn finds a cognate melody in the Scottish minor-mode "John Bain's Sister's Wedding", printed by Kerr in the 1880's, and researcher Conor Ward points to a version the Alex Sutherland (1873-1967, Drumreilly, Co Leitrim) music manuscript where it is set in mixed (minor/major) mode. See also note for "Nancy Fat."
Scottish singer Belle Stewart's comic song "The Bonnie Wee Lassie frae Gourock" [1] [2] employs this tune, although it is an adaption of music hall star Harry Lauder's original song named "Piper MacFarlane" (words by Lauder and Gerald Grafton, music by Lauder, published and recorded for Pathé in 1906). Belle learned the song from a broadsheet, from The Poet's Box in Dundee. The music-hall era song and dance tune "Perfect Cure (The)" shares the same first strain, although the second strains differ.
A jig in the Alex Sutherland music manuscript collection (Ireland) is titled "Long John's Wedding as Played in Three Counties" but it is a variant of a Lancer's set tune, also known as "Nancy Fat."
